Unthinking and cruel

The BNP has a litany of grievances against the ruling party, some of which we sympathise with and have been critical of the government. The list includes denial of space to the party to express dissent, harassment and arrest of its leaders, and to top it off, Khaleda Zia's confinement in her party office for two weeks as happened lately.

One would also find resonance with some of the thoughts she aired in her address to the press following removal of fetters on her movement. But we cannot help but be taken aback by her announcement that the blockade will continue until “the people's right to vote is restored". This is too open-ended an option to be taken by any responsible political leader. Knowing full well what further havoc an indefinite blockade could wreak, a 48-hour hartal from Wednesday morning through to Friday dawn has been called.

Fundamentally, this is tantamount to punishing the people for no fault of their own whatsoever. The public would have definitely wanted her to declare an immediate halt to the deadly blockade in view of the horrific spiralling of deaths, burning, destruction, economic losses and existential threats they have been through and want no more of. But she chose otherwise, which does not mesh with the general preference for a political solution to an essentially political conflict.

It is the most anti-people, unimaginative, cruel and destructive programme that the BNP is embarking on. We urge it to withdraw the blockade and hartal to meet public expectations.